Chaos awaits when Someone Destroys a Mind
by flareose
Summary: Having been blinded by rage that day, Sasuke challenged Naruto about his ideals with realistic point of views that in reality, he was saying to himself. He didn't realize how much he'd change the course of history with his words, but hatred always went so far just to spite people who ignited it's flames, and this... This wasn't any different. Dark Naruto, NaruSasu


_"The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off."_  
_― Gloria Steinem_

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**Chaos awaits when Someone Destroys a Mind  
**

**Chapter One: Prologue**

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There was a thick and heavy silence in the large rectangular like room. The only sounds that could be heard were the shallow breathing of the two occupants, and the ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner. The two people sitting opposite each-other, one a boy, the other a man of many talents, stared each other down as they waited for one of them to be the first to look away. In other words, the first to crack under the pressure.

The boy who was sitting stiffly on the leather black couch, balled his fists in slight frustration, his knuckles turning white as he felt his nails tear into the skin of the palms of his hands.

Five times a week he would have to deal with this, with having questions thrown at him about every topic under the sun. Five times a week he felt like he was re-living something, something that he was trying his hardest to push in the farthest corners of his mind. And, five times a week he could feel himself propelling deeper into resentment about this whole thing, and the Hokage who was the one who had started this whole mess.

_I want out... I want out of this tormenting place!_ he mentally screamed, half hoping that the blond haired man in front of him had heard his distress through his eyes.

He was doing that thing again... Hoping. Even though he knew that doing such a thing wasn't going to help at all. The man in front of him was Anbu, and answered only to the Hokage, the Hokage who was the one who gave him this job in the first place. So, there wasn't a chance nor hope in the world that he would listen to him, even for so small a request.

He couldn't tell why he was here however, even when the adults around him spoke in hushed whispers about his supposed illnesses.

There was nothing wrong with him. He was utterly ordinary. He didn't have all these things that they had called mental illnesses, he didn't have this thing that they had called amnesia or anything of the sort for that matter. If every so often he would black out, forget what he was doing, or going to do in general, so what? He was a perfectly fine and healthy and above all normal young boy. The Hokage had been wrong, and every single second he spent in this place only made him angrier because of this.

His eyes dimmed ever so slightly as he glared at the blond haired man in front of him, wanting him to know just how much he found all of this to be utterly useless.

"How are you feeling today, Sasuke?" the therapist asked with that detached look and impassive voice the child had heard over a million times.

It always started like this. That same question, that same expression on his face, and that same emotionless tone.

_Just like always I see._ Sasuke scoffed to himself.

Sasuke had noticed he felt agitated when he was near him the first time that they talked. It wasn't the man himself per se, but something about him, something that surrounded him like wildfire. He soon began to hate the man for it, but he also envied him for it as well. He hated him for that, not for his family or anything else that surrounded him with love and affection, like most people would believe a child like him would.

What he hated the man in front of him for, was that power.

He had the power to let nothing show if he so wished, he had that power of living through probably a thousand battles, and yet still being able to hold his head up high after slaughtering his foes. He had the respect of the people of this village, and even of enemies of all kinds from across the Nations. And, from those years of experience, those years of fighting through battles which he had won and lost and even earned a title or two from, that power had grown around him like a spreading wildfire.

Sasuke wasn't a Sensor type like this man was, but even he could feel the skillful weave of chakra that was being emitted from his therapist in waves.

That power was what he wanted...What he needed.

Itachi wasn't going to wait around forever, and if he wanted to reach his level or above soon, he needed that compelling force to get him there. That's where the Academy came in. He was the best student in his class, always got top marks in everything he did, and becoming a Genin afterward would only help if only so he could gain the battlefield experience he would need. Itachi was the reason why he was still in that Academy today. If he didn't have that mindset or that goal, then he would have dropped out of the school by now.

Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest, finally looking away from the piercing gaze which seemed oh so intent on getting him to start talking.

"Sasuke. You know you have to say something this time around," the man said with a slight disapproving frown.

This man made him feel guilty for the acts he's done since the first time these sessions started... Or from what he could remember of it that was. But, if he thought for one second that he'd apologize then he had another think coming.

"If we just talked about this, even for a few minutes you can leave." the man said after a few more minutes of silence.

He frowned when he turned his gaze back towards the man, not believing his words in the slightest.

_What, so you can tell your precious Hokage all the information I gave you? No thanks._ he thought, his frown deepening in his displeasure. He thought he saw a look of hope pass across the man's eyes, but decided that it was a trick of the lighting.

Like this man would ever actually want to help him for him.

"The answer is no Yamanaka," he sneered, only making Inochi sigh in discontent, in what Sasuke presumed to be him realizing he wasn't going to make any progress today just as he hadn't or wouldn't any other day.

As he continued to watch the man in front of him, he ignored that minor splotch of darkness he saw in the corner of his vision, knowing that it had to be yet another trick of the room's lighting. He was an ordinary boy, just normal. He didn't need these people watching over him twenty-four seven, he could take care of himself. He didn't need the medications they'd been trying to give him either, because he could fight off whatever it was that threatened his progress towards becoming a shinobi just fine without them.

After another fifteen minutes of them staring at each other, he began to regret his decision of not telling Inoichi anything about what he'd been going through recently, as he began noticing he was losing touch with reality.

He first noticed something was off when he silently uncrossed his arms over his chest, and sat them down in his lap seemingly without his own volition. While doing this, he felt oddly content somehow, not even minding the fact that he wasn't really staring at the man now despite the fact that he'd planned on continuing to do so until the session ended and he was finally released. Afterwards, the sound started fading in and out, with only the clock being audible, and sounding as if it were somewhere farther away than he could reach.

Then, his vision came and went until he could see nothing. Then, he couldn't feel anything. He would've started freaking out at that point if he could feel fear, but he couldn't. It was strange seeing nothing and feeling nothing, or it would be strange, if he could feel that was.

It was almost as if he were floating in Limbo. He could feel his soul and chakra, but not his body. If he was going to describe it, he would say it was black as night all around, but even then that description wouldn't do it justice. It was black, yes, but it was even more like a great sprawl of nothingness in every direction, as though the universe had contracted all at once, vanishing as fast as it had come.

Did time pass in this world? Was this even a world at all? Was this what they called Limbo? And if so, how did he get here?

He felt like he was missing something but couldn't think of anything he was missing, because everything was already here. He felt, somehow at peace here. At home somehow.

"Sasuke?"

He heard something, something that sounded like it was from the far reaches of his mind, but he couldn't tell what it was let alone grasp it. He began to question that until something happened. Splotches of color spiraled out into existence, swirling around and around with different combinations of every color added, until one color left, touching what he presumed to be the floor, and then another color left, touching what he presumed to be the ceiling. Other things left the spiral too, until it too vanished without a sound.

When everything was finished and the last of the spiral had vanished, he found himself in a room. Below him there was a checkered floor of dark blue and black, above him was a ceiling that was was a lighter shade of blue than that on the floor. There was a black leather chair in the corner of the left wall, and a white leather chair in the corner of the right wall. A grand piano rested against the middle of the left wall with a Victor V Record Player which was surrounded by a scattering of dust covered records resting on top of it.

From what he could see of the place so far, it was beautiful. At least he would say it was if he knew how to describe beautiful. But, as much as he wanted to stand there taking in the scenery he was strangely feeling too tired to stand anymore... That is if what he was currently feeling was tired. He didn't know. Has he ever felt tired before? And, if so, what did it feel like to be tired? Was this the correct way?

This was something to think about.

Walking over towards the white leather chair in the corner he sat down. As he sat down, he noticed that when he was seated he felt content, and didn't feel that tiredness from before. For some strange reason, the only thing he could do right now was think. He felt like he was forgetting things one by one, but couldn't tell what it was he was he was forgetting no matter how hard he thought about it.

"Sasuke...?"

That was okay though. All he wanted to do was sit here and think. He wanted to think about what his life would be like in years to come, and more. He wanted to think about what type of family he would have. He wanted to think about the past, because for the life of him he couldn't remember a thing about it. So, he would sit here and wait; and while he waited, he would sit here and think. Because that was all he could do.

He sat there and thought as time passed, if time passed at all in this world that was. As he thought, he began to have a vague recollection of being here before, or maybe it was just a residence like this. He couldn't recall the time nor place, hour or day of when he visited an area like this before, but then again, he could at least tell he'd seen somewhere like this before.

"Sasuke?"

Suddenly, his eyes landed on the other side of the room where that empty black leather chair was. He studied it. He looked at it, not really knowing why, but continuing to stare at it nonetheless. Why did he suddenly feel like there was supposed to be something in it? Or someone rather.

Sasuke wanted someone to be right there. There had to be someone. This room had two chairs, yet only one person in residence. That didn't seem right to him.

He blinked in surprise when his wish was granted.

The void reappeared, teasing him with it's swirling motions as it seemed more visible than the last time, now with more colors surrounding it. It seemed smaller than it had been before, hovering over the black leather chair rather than filling the entire room. As he watched the object form above the other chair, he faintly wondered where that voice that had been calling his name before had gone, seeing as he hadn't heard it in a while.

Strange he would say, if he could feel such an emotion.

Sasuke's thinking paused as the spiral in front of him began to swirl more slowly, now taking on an... Humanoid appearance? This would have left him with his mouth agape while questions zipped through his head, but since none could...

He just continued to stare as two hands appeared from the center of the spiral, clawing their way out actually. The hands were followed by a...face?

_**What face?**_

This thing didn't have anything of the sort that consisted of a pair eyes and ears, a mouth, nose, jaw or anything else of the sort. It had no mouth from which to speak. It had no nose through which to breathe, nor ears through which to hear. It didn't appear to have any skin with which to pull all of these non-existent features together either, yet strangely it existed.

Despite the fact that it was missing eyes through which to see, the creature seemed to be staring right at him.

If Sasuke could feel, he'd be feeling frightened right at this very second, but he couldn't. He could sense his chakra and this person's own force surrounding him in spades, and he could touch whatever it was his hands grabbed upon, but he couldn't feel. So, he felt no fear, not even a smudge.

There was a twist of the person's body, and suddenly it was pushing itself from the void at an odd angle. If Sasuke had listened closely at that moment, he would've heard the thing's back give a small pop. The person continued to claw it's way out before dropping onto the checkered floor, making a small sound like some kind of muck hitting a solid surface.

After it hit the floor upon freeing itself from the swirling void, the person twisted and turned in what looked like pure agony for a moment before falling still. It didn't get up for a while, and when it did, it did in a manner that was unlike any Sasuke had seen before. Instead of using its arms to try to push itself up immediately after falling, it rolled on it's back, put its hands flat against its side and lay completely motionless, for a time. As it lay there, Sasuke heard the sound of bones snapping. Soon after the pops and snaps subsided, it's legs bent strangely and it planted its feet firmly on the floor. Most would think this impossible to do since the thing was still lying down, barely even moving anything but its legs. But, this thing somehow made it possible.

In one swift motion the being stood up.

No.

It glided up.

Now that it was standing, Sasuke could get a better picture of the thing in front of him.

The being was quite a slender fellow, standing at near six feet with arms that were just as long as it's body, going past its hips and then even farther, just stopping near its knees. It didn't have skin. This was something he was sure about, though it wasn't bone either that he saw. However he could say it was a ghostly pale white. That also went for the thing's hands. They were a ghostly pale white as well, but instead of the regular fingers one would see on any human, it had claws.

There was some type of black goo surrounding it. He couldn't describe it very well nor could he even make out what that goo was, but it did surround it nonetheless.

For what seemed like hours but was in fact mere minutes it stood there, staring him down either in curiosity or judgement. Sasuke couldn't tell which, given the fact that it had no face, not even a pair of eyes. So, he couldn't tell what it was feeling. He again blinked in surprise upon seeing the results of his wish... As he watched, the thing put a clawed hand on its hip and then tilted its head to the side, giving off a studying aura.

It was curious.

Before Sasuke could even get a word out the creature had already spun on its heel turning its back to him, and then it began... Walking towards the piano? He couldn't tell, the thing walked as if this was the first time it had attempted to walk, given how it swayed sometimes or how hunched over it looked. He would call that interesting, if he could feel the need to be curious about being interested in this turn of events, yet he did not. But then, the creature seemed interested.

Sasuke continued watching as it now stood in front of the piano, appearing to be examining it's contents and the things around it. If he could grab at any of his emotions right now, he'd wonder if it even knew what those things were. However, something told him that it did in fact know what they were, and it was just examining to see what to do next.

As he watched, it picked up a dust covered record after seemingly deciding on its course of action, and not too long afterwards it placed it on the Victrola and set it playing. Afterwards, it made a sharp turn - still in that hunched form - towards the chair across from him, sitting down the same exact same way he was sitting. He would've been surprised when he saw its form start to take a different structure and appearance, but he couldn't.

* * *

Inoichi was finding it more and more difficult nowadays to keep his emotions in check. It wasn't the fact that the lack of progress with the boy irritated him, since he had hardly anything to show for this past couple of weeks, or the fact that this boy's pride would constantly get in the way in their daily sessions. No, none of that.

It was the fact that this boy was just a child.

Inoichi could deal with Genin, Chūnin and Jōnin. He could deal with Anbu and any other shinobi of the kind... But, he felt the Hokage was pushing it when he gave him this mission despite the fact that he could give two reasons why the Hokage had picked him for this task.

Number one, was him being one of the best in the Torture and Interrogation Unit. Given time, he could break anyone.

Number two, was him being able to forge minds back together as quickly as he could break them with his Clan's jutsus. This is where Inoichi's skills came into the fore, this is why he could understand why the Hokage had chosen him for this mission.

He was one of the best, and therefore the one to figure out if boy was stable enough to become a shinobi, or if they should terminate him from the program entirely.

It was true that Sasuke was the best in his class, being great in Nin-jutsu, Tai-jutsu and Gen-jutsu, but not everything was as it should be. The Hokage had saw something that most others would overlook, since the child was considered a prodigy by many.

In the public's eyes Sasuke should be praised, should be considered one of the best, and should be considered one of the best shinobi after he graduates. But, the Hokage's eyes saw something different.

The boy was good in the three primary areas of the Shinobi Arts, true, however he also failed in two other important categories besides those three. He lacked cooperation and assertiveness. His lack in these two all-important areas brought the boy's chances down considerably. The public's eye overlooked this, but the Hokage's did not.

If the boy didn't cooperate with the instructors or even his peers, how was he supposed to cooperate with his Sensei if he did pass, let alone his teammates?

Also, when looking into the boy's eyes, the Hokage had seen something dark. It was almost like looking into the other Uchiha's eyes before the massacre. That sense of wanting something more he saw in that boy's eyes, just like he'd seen in theirs. Like a glutton consuming everything in his path, and afterwards still wanting more despite the fact that he'd taken everything.

However, none questioned this. How... Unusual. It was also quite unusual seeing the public's view of the Uchiha clan do a complete one-eighty as well.

Everyone in Konoha had practically feared the Uchiha name not too long ago, thinking that one of them had controlled the Kyuubi seven years before. And yet, now that the clan was practically wiped off of the face of the earth, they suddenly felt the awe they used to. When the Uchiha Clan was nearly wiped off the face of the earth, their discomfort and anger towards the clan had quickly subsided. And after it had subsided, they had once again expected that clan to protect them. To protect their village.

They expected that clan in the form of a little boy to protect the entire village. They expected him to become a great shinobi. They expected him to continue to protect them and fight for them, all the while believing the boy who was old enough to remember it wouldn't know in the slightest about their former hatred for the near-extinct clan. They practically blinded themselves, in thinking everything would be fine now that the supposed Curse of Hatred Clan, was nearly dead.

Well, they were wrong.

If those people would start focusing on the main problem, then they would realize that Sasuke was quite different from how they portrayed him. But, they did not see it. However, Sasuke was just as blinded as they. There was a reason why the boy was here in the first place. He had... Certain illnesses that resulted from the Massacre.

First was the amnesia.

Not just any amnesia, but to put it more simply something akin to Dissociative Amnesia. It was a condition in which someone cannot recall vital information in a way that has nothing to do with normal forgetfulness. This is mostly caused by witnessing or experiencing a violent crime or something of the sort. People with this illnesses do not identity crises, but they tend to pass through life in a trance-like state and may develop depersonalization as an effort to block out stressful experiences.

This is what Inoichi had been trying to break Sasuke out of.

If the boy's pride would diminish for just a few minutes so he could talk about his experiences before and after the massacre, he had no doubt in his mind the child would began healing, if only slightly. He would say only bit, as Inoichi still couldn't tell if it was Dissociative Amnesia the boy suffered from or something similar and worse.

Even now after hours upon hours, days upon days, and weeks upon weeks, the boy had barely spoken a word in his presence that would help him heal. Since he wouldn't be able to form a full diagnosis until his patient actually started talking about his experiences, there were things he'd have to worry about regarding the boy's main problem.

There were subtypes of this sort of amnesia.

The two main ones he could see the boy having from a rough outline of what he'd seen were Localized Amnesia and Selective Amnesia.

Localized Amnesia is not having a memory of a specific traumatic event that took place, and there was a high chance Sasuke had this.

When he and the Hokage had found Sasuke passed out in the middle of the road that led outside of the Uchiha Clan, he had knelt down next to the boy in order to check his pulse all the while fearing the worst, when the boy's eyes had suddenly snapped open. What he and the Hokage had seen that day had made their blood run cold, as they had seen the Sharingan spinning rapidly in awareness, even though their host was in a trance-like state.

Later on, when Inoichi had asked the boy if he could remember anything of the incident or even the incident with Itachi during the Massacre afterwards, the boy had rather alarmingly told him no. Based on this, Selective Amnesia, which makes people remember only selective parts of events that occurred in a defined period of time was quite likely. Sasuke had shown signs of someone having used Gen-jutsu on him. So, if Itachi had used the Tsukuyomi, as some Uchihas of the past who'd gained the Mangekyo Sharingan had done before, then there was a high possibility that the boy also had this form of subtype amnesia as well.

But it wasn't only amnesia the boy had. No, he'd been showing signs of not being able to control his emotions effectively as well. There had been a time when the boy had cried, cursing all the way while furiously wiping away at his tears. The child was able to put up a mask in front of others, but alone, away from prying eyes he would cry. Inoich knew this from seeing it first hand during covert observation of the boy outside their usual therapy sessions.

He could tell that the stress of the situation was getting to the boy, but the child refused to be allowed to be seen acting like any ordinary child who didn't understand what was happening to or around him. This was one of the main reasons why he felt that this was a task that he couldn't accomplish, because it hurt to look at this boy for that reason, and if he couldn't retain some degree of clinical separation there could be trouble. Walking the fine line between understanding the situation and growing too close to be able to fix the problem was difficult at times.

There had been one session when Sasuke had cried in front of him, but that had lasted very briefly. When Sasuke had cried right in front of him for the first and last time, after he wiped away his tears furiously, all the while hiding behind his arms for protection from the outside world, he had immediately grown extremely enraged. Despite the amount of time he'd spent in the war witnessing the vagaries of the battlefield, and the time he'd spent on missions, and the time he'd spent in the T&I department, he'd never in his life seen anything like that. One second, Sasuke had looked like a lost kid looking for away out and the next he was an office destroying fury that could only be subdued after a great deal of effort. Usually, there was some warning before there was any change in someone's mood, and with Sasuke there had been none.

It was without a doubt sorrowful that a boy his age would already show signs of having a serious mood disorder that a seven year old shouldn't even have, no matter what family he came from. But, it was also painful to see his rather prodigious talents go to waste.

Sasuke had once asked him if a girl by the name of Ino was his daughter, and although the two shared the same last name, he'd never thought the boy would figure that out without being told. They looked the same, yes, but the reason he hadn't believed the boy would figure it out was simple, Sasuke had never shown interest in any of his classmates or their backgrounds, hence his low scores in both cooperation and assertiveness. The boy had even further surprised him by saying that the other two classmates that usually hung around her, Shikamaru and Choji were probably the son's of Shikaku Nara and Chōza Akimichi. He had sat there, dumbfounded before nodding his head.

Those were well known names however, and each child had looked like their parent in some way or the other, he had reminded himself, so his dumbfounded expression had passed before the child had gone on to talk about numerous other children and who the parents of each of them were, or at least of who he thought them to be. A lot of the children he spoke of hadn't been from well known Clans, or Clans at all for that matter, so it was a shock to hear about the information that he had managed to gather while appearing to be completely disinterested in everyone around him.

A day or two afterwards, after the boy had finally grown bored from just sitting there, he spoke of a day, where the instructors had run them through a Survival Exercise.

For the day of the exercise, their teachers had been Genin, and their goal had been to reach a destination where the real instructors would be waiting. Barring their path had been a number of the obstacles that the instructors had set up which the Genin were to guide them past, and the combat they'd had to engage in in order to move forward. The Uchiha had been teamed up with Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto for this exercise. Two individuals that annoyed Sasuke greatly, as Inoichi clearly saw from the spiteful words Sasuke used in regards to them.

As he described the exercise, he told him about how the three of them were trapped in a Gen-jutsu somewhere along the way, their Genin instructor having been too busy fighting off an opponent at the time to help them. The way Sasuke was describing it made it seem as if he didn't mind the situation in the slightest.

What had happened was that the real instructors had cast a Gen-jutsu of an illusory fog which had separated them before he had posed as each of them. Sasuke was lucky enough to see the fake counterpart of himself first, and had defeated him without a second thought with a swift kick to the head, making him dispel. As he continued to walk through the fog, he had heard a scream, and almost immediately went to go investigate, only to find Sakura looking at her counterpart.

Upon spotting this, he had crossed his arms over his chest and only stared at the scene, not doing anything to help in the slightest at all, just watching.

When Sakura had seen him from the corner of her eye, she must have thought this was her moment to shine in front of the boy, because afterwards she seemed to be oddly brave enough to try and defeat the thing herself. She did manage to do so, with a well aimed elbow to the gut of her counterpart, and soon it too had dispelled as his own opponent had.

As they traveled along the foggy path they had ran into Naruto. Or what Sakura had thought was Naruto, that was. Sasuke had paid close attention to it however, and found that it wasn't the boy. When Sakura had questioned him of how he knew that it wasn't the boy, Sasuke had stated he was right-handed, while this thing had his Academy kunai pouch on his left side, signaling this counterpart was left handed.

After a time he just stood and watched again just like how he did with Sakura, when the boy showed up and defeated his other half. While Naruto gave a thumbs up and Sakura simply smiled in a rare occasion for her to be smiling at anything the blonde did, the boy just watched.

That's when Inoichi's bewilderment vanished. He questioned the boy of why didn't he help them? Sasuke scoffed at this, but said the operation only had one objective, and that objective had been that they had to reach the goal. Inoichi then countered with a question about why they had been placed in teams if this was the case. Sasuke just sat there in deep thought for a long time. Before stating it had to be to see which one of them had the most power. Which one of them could survive.

It was a survival test after all.

Inoichi just sat there in stunned shock.

Did the child really think that?

This child was his daughter's age, and yet... He sometimes felt uneasy when he had begun to understand that look the boy gave off, the look that made him wonder if making the boy a shinobi would be handing him the kunai with which to slice Konoha's throat. There was such hatred and hunger for power in that boy's eyes, even if he only caught a glimmer of it every once in a while. Seeing such a look in a child's eyes was both alarming and saddening all the same, and it made him fear for the future.

Just thinking about if his little girl ever had eyes like those made him shiver. But, he knew she wouldn't. Even if she didn't like the person, she would still help one of her fellow Konoha villagers in the end. She was part of a long history with Nara and Akimichi alike, both helping each other through friendship and as comrades on the battlefield. But, this boy seemed to think of the other shinobi of his village as stepping stones if at all.

It was truly sad. Sasuke had a talent to see things like this, had a keen eye, as some would call and yet Inoichi felt as if he was wasting them. It was even more saddening when he understood what Sasuke had besides amnesia. It was Bipolar disorder or something like it, and it was making the boy unstable, unpredictable, worrisome.

From having abnormal strength to becoming enraged proved this well enough already, but just to make sure, he had requested for the Hokage to let him look inside the boy's mind. If the boy did have Bipolar disorder, then the chakra pathways in his brain would have abnormalities in their structure, not only that but there would be an increase in volume of the lateral ventricles and globus pallidus. He would also find an increase in the rates of the deep white matter hyperintensities.

When Inoichi had last looked at the boy he found all of this and more.

The reason almost nobody seemed to notice that the child had poor emotional regulation and a high stress rate was because he was nearly as good at masking his emotions as a shinobi four times his age, a skill he'd shared with his older brother.

In a person's subconscious, they would have this spot where things would manifest, or to characterize it more, a safe ground. This is where things would appear that would show exactly how the individual really is. This area could be anything from a room, or to a treasured place from their memories that they held above all others. Rather disturbingly, he hadn't seen anything of the sort in Sasuke's mind. When Inoichi got to where it was supposed to be, there was nothing. He could feel that there was in fact supposed to be something there, but he didn't see anything.

This spoke volumes and alarmed him even more for different reasons. He could feel that something should be there - not to say there haven't been cases where if the individual isn't there with him the place wouldn't come into being - but those have been cases where shinobi were involved. Sasuke may have been one of the best in the Academy, but he was far from being called a shinobi.

Another reason he knew there was something seriously wrong with the boy was that on one of the rare occasions that he spoke, Sasuke had told him something helpful when it came to himself and his emotions. He had told him that after the day of his parents funeral he'd had a strange dream where he saw himself in the black clothes that he had worn during that day, crying. The other self that was the one wearing them, had said that if he had more power he could have protected mother and father. He described the place being surrounded in a sickly yellow, and that sickly yellow had looked like it was swirling all around.

Of course the boy had said this all in difficulty, and hadn't went into further detail about anything else, even when Inoichi had asked for more context.

Whatever Itachi had done to Sasuke on the night of the massacre, whether it was once or twice had destroyed this boy from the inside out. Because of that day, he had requested eight days afterwards that the child start taking medicine for his illnesses so that they could see if anything could be salvaged of what should've been a bright shinobi career for the above average Uchiha boy. He personally asked the Hokage to add lithium as a mood-stabilizing drug after dealing with the effects of the Bipolar disorder first hand.

But, that was in the past, and now was now. So, Inochi soon pulled himself out of his musings on the boy, he wanted to make some progress in only helping him now. Even if he was still weary about it all, he could manage.

"If we just talked about this, even for a few minutes you can leave." he tried, knowing more than anything the boy wanted to leave and never return.

Sasuke may have not even noticed or thought that he saw his distress from earlier today, but he did. He could read eyes far better than most of the rest of the Torture and Interrogation Unit could. However, this time, with his last try of the day, when the boy returned his gaze to him, it was filled with a look of skepticism.

Inochi held his breath with a slight look of hope in his eyes.

"The answer is no Yamanaka," Sasuke sneered with that all to familiar pride shining in his eyes. Inochi sighed in discontent at the boy's answer.

As he continued to stare at the boy, his disheartened look passed all to soon when he noticed a slight off look about him. He furrowed his brows in slight confusion, wondering what exactly Sasuke was doing. Instead of having his arms crossed in displeasure like he had just a few minutes ago, he now uncrossed them and sat them on his lap all the while staring over Inoichi's shoulder.

Sasuke's behavior and the unfocused eyes the child now showed confused and worried him.

"Sasuke?" Inoichi asked in a slight perplexed tone, his worry increasing when he received no reply.

"Sasuke...?" even the boy's breathing became shallow, barely audible.

Inoichi's hands clenched into fists on his desk as his chair went falling to the floor with a clank.

"Sasuke!?" he spoke again, this time loud enough that he was sure the boy would answer.

* * *

_That thing on the other side... Looks a lot like me now._ Sasuke noticed.

The creature had settled on what Sasuke was guessing its final form. It now had a tuft of spiked inky black hair just like he had, also having outlines for a pair of eyes and a mouth, but oddly enough nothing else, such as ears for instance. He had the vague impression that this creature could see, breath and hear, if it was not just pretending to stare at him and appearing to breathe. It was also willing to play something else on the Victrola which was now playing something new since the creature had changed the record after the old one had repeated for an unknown number of times.

As well as showing a new appearance and a new taste in music, it also now wore a suit.

That black goo that had been strangely surrounding it earlier had morphed into a civilian business suit and tie somehow. Unlike an ordinary suit of charcoal grey, the suit that the goo had turned into had been red with black pinstripes just like the tie and a simple black shirt could be seen underneath. However, when Sasuke had mentioned that it didn't match the color scheme of the room, the creature had listened and morphed the black goo into something that would fit this room. Now, the suit was a plain black one with matching tie, and the blue shirt beneath the jacket matched the ceiling.

While he didn't feel anything from this turn of events or anything else the suit wearing creature with his hair did, the creature itself still appeared very curious about him. If he had his emotions right now, he'd again, call this strange. After all, it couldn't be the place that was keeping him from feeling anything, seeing as the creature obviously had emotions of its own.

It was like he was depersonalized. It was almost as if everything that made him him was stripped away and all that was left was a random thought process that could only analyze its current surroundings.

How was that even possible? is the question he would've asked if he could at this point.

As if being able to read his thoughts, the creature started looking at him funny. He could see clearly that the outline of it's mouth was creasing upwards as was the outline of it's eyes, in the form of a sinister smile. Even though him and it were sitting in the exact same way, his form of sitting looked more like a boy in deep thought, while its form of sitting looked more intimidating. And, it only increased when the creature decided to smile, that eerily smile.

Sasuke should feel frightened.

He should feel startled or terrified, or any other emotion of the sort.

But he didn't, couldn't.

So he just sat and thought.

The creature began to move in it's chair somewhat, just a slight bob of its head and feet tapping to the music.

That's also something to think about, for as the music continued to play, Sasuke had vague memories of hearing it somewhere before. The music was rhythmic and groovy in a sense, having the uplifting feel of Jazz. The creature was responding to it in a way he could no longer, if it's head bobbing and feet tapping were any indication at all.

"Swing." Sasuke muttered under his breath, having seen a memory of himself playing an album his father had owned back before.

The creature stopped tapping its feet to the music as abruptly as it started, but in spite of this, the music continued to play.

Suddenly, a sickening crack could be heard throughout the room as the creature's outline of a mouth split in half, beginning to take form before a dark blue tongue slipped out, and a row of sharp pointed teeth could be seen. It stared down at Sasuke, this time having a look of judgement in the outlines of it's eyes.

The creature crossed its arms over its chest, a smirk playing at the once outline of a mouth.

**"You've got a keen eye for these things, don'tcha cat?"** it spoke in a slurred fashion Sasuke had never heard before.

And, there it was again, that previous eerie smile.

After a pause during which only the music could be heard, a frown began to develop on Sasuke's face. He felt like he was still missing something, but he couldn't tell what it was because everything was already here. Whatever it was that he was missing however, this place didn't have it at all from what he's seen of it.

"I want out." he said, voicing his reason to not stay here any longer.

The creature continued to stare at him in what should have been an unnerving manner, and despite the fact that his wish had been granted last time and the creature had turned up when he mentioned that there should be someone else here, he had nothing to show for his latest statement. While he wanted out, there was no way for him to leave.

The creature's eerie smile which was about the only thing to look at around here was gone, replaced with nothing.

Because it wasn't showing anything.

The record skipped before it turned silent all around, the music finally ended. He never realized how dark it was in this room up until now, up until he decided he wanted to leave.

Then there was a shift.

When Sasuke looked around the slightly dark room he noticed that the creature was standing up, swaying from side to side , dancing, as if there were still music playing... But, there wasn't. As it did a spin, he noticed that it was heading straight for him in that swaying motion, its sharp turns on the checkered floor made him a spectacle to behold.

After one last spin with it's head downcast and a sharp turn, it was right in front of him. It once again stared him down, and for a split second he thought he saw a vile blue and yellow aura surrounding it in outrage. It didn't speak, didn't dance, just stared him down. It did this for a couple of minutes, just observing him, watching him and inspecting him until Sasuke heard the sound of something cracking, and found that it was the creature's back twisting at an odd angle again.

Now, their faces were only inches apart, but he found he didn't care in the slightest... But the creature did.

With an odd twisting of it's arms it held Sasuke's neck in it's cold grasp.

Sasuke's eyes widened, for when the creature had choked him with such anger he felt fear for the first time in what seemed like ages.

His other emotions started coming forward one after the other in wave after wave immediately following this, practically inundating him in the tide. The strangeness of what this thing was, the anger he could practically feel radiating from the creature in spades, and the fear of what this thing was capable of when like this. Questions and emotions that he could nearly feel all at once came and went, and memories were zipping past his vision too fast for him to grasp.

To his horror, he began to hear the creature speaking from the back of his mind. 'I'm scared, I'm scared.' he thought in a panic, gripping at the thing's arms as he tried to pry them off with the little power he had left.

What he had previously thought about himself being depersonalized just turned out to be false. He could see clearly now, and he knew that this thing had taken his emotions, his love for music, and even how he looked, and wore it.

It was practically wearing his skin.

_Just what exactly is this thing?_ he asked himself as tears began to leak from his eyes, a feeling of dread overwhelming him since there was a possibility that he wouldn't be able to escape from death this time around.

* * *

Inoichi felt alarmed as he shook the boy to try and wake from his trance-like state. But, it seemed as if his efforts at rousing the boy were to no avail. He cursed under his breath at his own stupidity, realizing he should have kept a closer eye on the the boy to make sure he had been taking the medication he'd prescribed for him for when it came to this type of emergencies.

Undoubtedly yes, this wasn't the first time something like this had occurred, but it should've stopped completely by now. He thought that after enough of these episodes the boy would finally start listening to him and start taking his medication regularly like he had asked him to, but that clearly wasn't the case. Sasuke was such a prideful creature, and like most of his clan detested even the appearance of weakness. Knowing that about the boy, he should've known that the boy wouldn't have listened to him even if it was for his own good.

He was however feeling more alarmed about the situation now than he ever had been in the past, and it wasn't just because Sasuke had not listened to him.

No, it was because this was taking longer to pass than the previous trance-like states he'd been in his presence before, and as it continued the boy's breathing became fainter with each passing second. It never took this long, and as it continued for even longer without the boy waking despite the violent shaking, he came up with a desperate plan that he hoped would work.

* * *

The room looked distorted and warped as Sasuke began to see dark splotches in his vision. What ever this... Demon was, it was not letting up in the slightest in it's strength, and because of this he felt that he would truly perish now.

Tears only leaked out of his eyes even more as he felt he wasn't done in this world. There were still things he wanted to do. Things he had to do before he passed in the afterlife to meet his parents, his clan. But as he felt himself take a breath of air, his last that was, he felt something wet stick to his skin at a freezing rate.

And soon afterwards he was looking back in that rectangular like room.

It took a few minutes for this to re-gesture in his brain before he found himself blinking in a surreal fashion. His hand soon afterwards had lifted up on it's own accord towards his face, where he had felt that freezing wetness like before.

Pulling his hand back he inspected it, and only found it to be water. His mouth was left agape in bewilderment, not realizing what was happening, or even what transpired here. Looking for the therapist, he found him to be slightly off to the side next to the door, with a bucket in hand.

He blinked again, before a coil of anger twisted inside of him like a snake. "What the hell," he seethed with venom.

"Sasuke..." he wanted to ask the child if he was alright, wanted to know what the boy was thinking while he was practically trapped in his own mind. But he couldn't, wouldn't.

The boy hated sympathy.

"Have you been taking the medication I prescribed you?" he thought he saw a flash of guilt shine in the boy's eyes as he questioned the matter, before it became over washed with fury.

"No. No I haven't." Sasuke sneered with that prideful look on his face.

"..." Inoichi was silent, just staring at the boy with a disapproving frown on his face.

Sasuke's eyes became half lidded slightly at the look. He found himself shifting into place with his head downcast-ed, before returning his eyes back on the man with that anger beginning to boil in the pit of his stomach again. "I don't need them..." he spoke in a small voice, but Inoichi knew each word was laced with irritation.

"Sasuke. Your illnesses." Inoichi spoke in a hushed whisper, only making the boy growl in resentment.

"There not illnesses," Sasuke suddenly stood up, shouting all the while. "Anyone would feel how I would feel right!?" it was almost said in a question like manner that even the boy himself had asked over a million times over and over again in his head.

Inochi was left in a shock at the unexpected questioning tone the boy made. "Have you ever lost someone, huh? Someone that you held dearly in your family!? Better yet have you ever lost your whole family, or knew that you would never see one of them again?!"

Inochi's eyes focused on Sasuke then.

Not a look of displeasure or even anger.

Just continuing to stare at the child's eyes. Sasuke panted softly as he watched the man -who was silently watching him with nothing to show on his face- in front of him.

Now that the adrenaline finally left him, his anger however still coursing in the depths of his soul, he felt a little alarmed. The man wasn't saying anything, or doing anything for that matter, just standing there and staring. _W-what? _his muscles tensed up at their own accord, already remembering that _thing's_ cold like grasp rapped around his neck.

Nearly over two minutes that's all Inoichi did however, was stare.

Until his eyes soften, making the boy even more unnerved.

With his eyes alone Inoichi tried to tell the child a story.

Of how one of his family members... A boy who used to be near Sasuke's age, who always wore a cocky grin on his face, but having a cheerful personality along with hair the color of amber orange just like the sunset. That boy was taken away from his clan because of a man with greed and envy clawing at his heart, a man who was considered by many even today, to be the Shinobi no Yami of Konoha. He tried to tell him how pained he felt when seeing him leave, knowing the little boy, would probably never be seen again.

Sasuke looked at this with a slightly confused look, wondering what the Yamanaka was trying to say.

He didn't understand... Or better yet not wanting to understand. "Sasuke... Live your life out peacefully. Don't let hatred claw at you like this."

The boy snapped out of his train of thoughts, and stared at Inoichi. Crossing his arms over his chest, he looked somewhere else in the room, anything from the slightly looking broken man in front of him. "... I can't. I have something to prove."

Inoichi's eyes narrowed in understanding. He only wished he didn't understand what the boy said. "Sasuke there's something you must understand. If you have something to prove, then know you have something to lose." he watched as the boy's head snapped back to him, a look of fear replacing those soon to have been calming eyes.

The child's muscles tensed.

He remembered... That trance like state he was in, in that room, with music playing. That demonic thing.

His emotions...

_**What emotions?**_

"Sh-shut up!" he suddenly stuttered in a fright.

He pushed the man with his now abnormal strength when he was still in his shock like state, sending him skidding to the wall almost knocking him over in the process. If the therapist was alright he didn't stay around to see, as he made a dash towards the door before opening it in a frenzy to get outside.

Anywhere but here.

Inoichi called after him, but Sasuke didn't answer.

* * *

**I have to thank Lucillia for helping me out with this one. If it wasn't for her, than who knows how many errors would have been in this chapter alone :p**


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